HONG KONG (UCAN): Relatives of Uyghur police force personnel are now being detained as part of a crackdown on the ethnic Muslim group in the Xinjiang region of China. It had been an unwritten agreement that the families of security personnel enforcing the crackdown were off limits, but now the cops are beginning to cop it.

Thousands of Uyghurs accused of having extremist and politically incorrect views have been sent to political reeducation camps and prisons across the region. Radio Free Asia reported that in Kashgar prefecture Uyghur police officers and their families are now being targeted.

An officer from Saghan township’s No. 3 village police station said nearly half of the nine regular duty officers working there have members of their families detained. “There are four police officers whose relatives are in detention, including one whose siblings are being held,” the officer, who asked to remain anonymous, told Radio Free Asia.

At least one other policeman from the township, who had served as a border officer for five years, was fired after his relatives were arrested for extremism. “Tursunjan Emet, a border police officer, was removed from his post—his father and two of his elder brothers were arrested,” the officer said. Those with family convicted and sent to prison are being removed from their jobs.